Shipbucket

Just finished the 1943 refit of the USS Phoenix. Her refit included the remodeling of her superstructure to improve the fire arc for the AA guns. Her LA 5 inch guns are replaced with 5"/38 dual turrets. Her AA complement has been modified, 8 quad 40mm Bofors have replaced the 1.1 inch guns. The Oerlikon 20mm have been increased to 18 twin mounts. The ship also recieved two SG radars and a SK radar atop of her foremast. The ship is painted in the Measure 33 Design 13D.

USS Phoenix in 1943:

Great looking wartime refit!

Awesome. My only advice would be to replace the Mk.8 radars on the Mk.34 directors with the earlier Mk.3 FC set (any mod). These were kind of jury-rigged to earlier mounts.

I might also replace the Mk.44 directors for the light AA with Mk.49s. I generally don't think the primitive Mk.44 was mounted if anything "modern" like the Mk.49 or Mk.51 was available.

The mainmast would probably just have the SG set on a small platform with a servicing platform below it instead of the complex setup you have now. I know some of the Clevelands had a similar fit but I'm not sure why this was done (maybe lack of radar sets at forward repair facilities? It would be easy to fabricate the antenna platform using stocks of steel, but AFAIK radar sets are generally advanced components that were built in the US.)

Kingfisher floatplanes by 1943 for sure.

Otherwise looks great!

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Looking good! I like how you made the forward tower structure, it looks very good!

The USS Minneapolis had the SK radar and SG radars in this setup. Would the Mk 49 or Mk 51 be that common in 1943? As far as the refit is concerned, it happened in the US, as it would require a major yard to tear down the forward superstructure and replace it with something new.

Awesome Karle94! These have got to be the best drawn ships you've done by far. Love the detailing, and a good looking ship to boot.

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I don't think we had waveguides figured out very well in 1943. I'd expect SG to still be roughly atop the pilothouse, rather than far aloft. I could be off on dates, though.

Hello Karle

Tempest's right, this one's your best so far! Very plausible design for an US ship. The only thing that strikes me as odd is the placement of the 127mm twins, which are very close together for my taste... but maybe there just was no other way.

Greetings
GD

Thanks for all the compliments.

The radar placement is not too unproblematic for late 1943, as other ships had their SG radars on the mainmast and/or foremast.

The 5 inch turrets can quiet easily be moved further apart, in fact, it has already been done.

I have replaced all the Mk 44 AA directors with the Mk 57.

The mk 8 fire directing radars have been replaced with the mk 3 and I have added the Kingfisher.

Can't comment on the historical credibility of the design either, but the ship certainly looks the part, plus with very good drawing quality to boot!

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